urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comments-af594856-779c-41dc-9a8c-2aa5811e39d9Requirements Management Blog (Comments)Requirements Management Blog (Comments)030252017-06-26T06:32:56-04:00IBM Connections - Blogsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comment-d38e0555-76c9-478e-a3e5-a79de5357c34Re: Non-Functional Requirements: Soft is harder to deal with than hard - The Ten CommandmentsNarySubramanian270006NTBQactivefalseNarySubramanian270006NTBQactivefalseLikes2013-09-18T15:51:38-04:002013-09-18T15:51:38-04:00Great post, Professor! We use NFRs every day of our life - which dress should I wear, what food should I eat, which car should I drive, what will he/she think of me, and so on - yet, when we develop products and services we don't seem to be concerned about NFRs much. As a user, we seem to be ready to discriminate between options using NFRs, while we seem to delegate NFRs to the bottom of the to-do list while developing products/services (there are programming books that recommend adding security at the end!).Great post, Professor! We use NFRs every day of our life - which dress should I wear, what food should I eat, which car should I drive, what will he/she think of me, and so on - yet, when we develop products and services we don't seem to be concerned about NFR...falsefalseRE: Non-Functional Requirements: Soft is harder to deal with than hard - The Ten Commandments0urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-fab50b26-f1df-46ae-b7a0-ad3990749bfcNon-Functional Requirements: Soft is harder to deal with than hard - The Ten Commandments - Commentsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comment-bf101eff-940b-41c7-bfd3-24a1d82babfdRe: Non-Functional Requirements: Soft is harder to deal with than hard - The Ten CommandmentsKeithCollyer270001D2S4activefalseKeithCollyer270001D2S4activefalseLikes2013-09-18T08:33:24-04:002013-09-18T08:33:24-04:00This is a great blog, thank you.
I want to add one thing. NFRs do not exist in isolation, each and every NFR is only relevant when related to one or more FRs. One way that you can sensibly mitigate the impact of NFRs is to working out the highest level of requirement to which each applies and ensure that they are linked to that level. For example, you may well have different performance requirements for different functions.
Having said that, some NFRs really do apply to the whole system, though in practice this is the minority. Every system has a top-level function ("do the job"), just associate with that.This is a great blog, thank you.
I want to add one thing. NFRs do not exist in isolation, each and every NFR is only relevant when related to one or more FRs. One way that you can sensibly mitigate the impact of NFRs is to working out the highest level of req...falsefalseRE: Non-Functional Requirements: Soft is harder to deal with than hard - The Ten Commandments0urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-fab50b26-f1df-46ae-b7a0-ad3990749bfcNon-Functional Requirements: Soft is harder to deal with than hard - The Ten Commandments - Commentsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comment-e6dd38f8-9142-4908-abab-9217c74e39c5Re: The practical applications of traceability Part 1: What’s really going on when you decompose a requirement?gbjedi270002J0V2activefalsegbjedi270002J0V2activefalseLikes2013-06-14T11:51:03-04:002013-06-14T11:51:03-04:00Thanks for your excellent comments. Of course you are right that, in the ideal, design options should be recorded as alternative flow-down structures. The challenge in achieving culture change, though, it is to choose your battles. In our recent project, we are already asking engineers to take on board a host of new practices, and it is as much as we can to persuade them to document the decomposition of requirements for the chosen design. We have decided to let them do their optioneering outside of the requirements structure, and just to record the selected design in the requirements decomposition. Although we are missing out on a host of information about design choices, the approach still improves their ability to carry impact analysis.
Years ago when at QSS I did some work with a DOORS customisation called DecisionLink, which was an approach to tracing design decisions into the requirements structures. In practice, most users found that the added complexity outweighed the benefits, mainly because different choices tended to have very dramatic effects on the whole requirements structure.
More recently, however, I have done some work integrating QFD House Of Quality diagrams with requirements in DOORS, and that may be a more practical approach to addressing this need.Thanks for your excellent comments. Of course you are right that, in the ideal, design options should be recorded as alternative flow-down structures. The challenge in achieving culture change, though, it is to choose your battles. In our recent project, we ar...falsefalseRE: The practical applications of traceability Part 1: What’s really going on when you decompose a requirement?0urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-7d3fe73f-d751-48b3-960a-ce09d3095d2fThe practical applications of traceability Part 1: What’s really going on when you decompose a requirement? - Commentsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comment-d7c69736-1d15-4ab3-af44-544fc014be50Re: Managing Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher. Part 4: What is Traceability?KeithCollyer270001D2S4activefalseKeithCollyer270001D2S4activefalseLikes2013-05-20T10:24:31-04:002013-05-20T10:24:31-04:00Andy gets it exactly right here. Since I first came across the V-model, I have treated it as an information model rather than a process model, even though it is usually defined as the latter. In fact, I would argue that traceability is the only possible way that you can understand the relationships between the information that you are creating. A "traditional" approach involves a fairly linear development of information. This means that, at a gross level, it is relatively easy to keep track of where information comes from - though of course traceability is still needed at the detail level. Agile development is naturally more accumulative. It still has to create the same artifacts, and the relationships between those artifacts are the same as they are for traditional development. So why would you not want traceability? In fact, the need is even more pressing as there is no necessary relationship between what you do in one timebox and the next. The only way you can understand the connectedness of the information that you create is through traceabilityAndy gets it exactly right here. Since I first came across the V-model, I have treated it as an information model rather than a process model, even though it is usually defined as the latter. In fact, I would argue that traceability is the only possible way th...falsefalseRE: Managing Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher. Part 4: What is Traceability?0urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-c7afc844-48aa-4ba9-8bda-9ae567b7609aManaging Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher. Part 4: What is Traceability? - Commentsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comment-2315dec5-e0df-427c-b169-8f1df7efb90bRe: Managing Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher. Part 4: What is Traceability?AndyGurd270001QKDHactivefalseAndyGurd270001QKDHactivefalseLikes2013-05-20T05:44:09-04:002013-05-20T05:44:09-04:00Hi Skip, thank you for your question. I've had lots of discussion and debate both within IBM, with industry experts and with clients around the topic of agile, requirements management and traceability, and it raises some interesting questions. What relationships do you still need to maintain between artifacts in your more agile approach? How do you maintain the big picture of what the systems/application does and how it does it, that lives beyond an iteration/sprint? What we've found is if you think of the V-model as an information model, rather than a process model, it's equally applicable in agile approaches as well as waterfall or hybrid waterfall-iterative approaches. When you create the artifacts and relationships and in what order will be different, but as a system of record the artifacts and their relationships will likely still exist and the relationships will still look like the V-model. Traceability must be done as part of the analysis, design, implement, test, build and deploy activities rather than as an after thought. Tools should create implicit relationships when a workflow is enacted and also make it very simple to create, maintain and utilize explicit relationships so that traceability is a benefit not an overhead. Whether you're following a waterfall or agile approach I believe traceability helps you provide context and rationale for design decisions, more quickly and easily track down sources of defects and identify all potentially impacted artifacts and components when a change request is evaluated.Hi Skip, thank you for your question. I've had lots of discussion and debate both within IBM, with industry experts and with clients around the topic of agile, requirements management and traceability, and it raises some interesting questions. What relationshi...falsefalseRE: Managing Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher. Part 4: What is Traceability?0urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-c7afc844-48aa-4ba9-8bda-9ae567b7609aManaging Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher. Part 4: What is Traceability? - Commentsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comment-b6ec8508-bd7c-4dab-968b-4df5657351aaRe: Managing Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher. Part 4: What is Traceability?QA1-Skip110000APC2activefalseQA1-Skip110000APC2activefalseLikes2013-05-17T17:08:28-04:002013-05-17T17:08:28-04:00In the V-model of development, I advocated traceability. It wasa neat way to tie up loose ends after months of development. Now that we have more agile delivery, I question the value of tracing. When we are defining, designing, building, and testing software in short increments, how does traceability help me to deliver a better solution more quickly with a happier team?In the V-model of development, I advocated traceability. It wasa neat way to tie up loose ends after months of development. Now that we have more agile delivery, I question the value of tracing. When we are defining, designing, building, and testing softwa...falsefalseRE: Managing Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher. Part 4: What is Traceability?0urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-c7afc844-48aa-4ba9-8bda-9ae567b7609aManaging Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher. Part 4: What is Traceability? - Commentsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comment-ba085f8d-f96a-4da5-940a-fc10747c0e56Re: The practical applications of traceability Part 1: What’s really going on when you decompose a requirement?CeesMichielsen270006ASDQactivefalseCeesMichielsen270006ASDQactivefalseLikes2013-05-04T05:19:59-04:002013-05-04T05:19:59-04:00Hi Jeremy, thank you for this interesting article.
I recognize the issues you encounter when trying to "decompose" requirements. The solution you describe does however not do justice to the product engineering practice of today. I fully agree with the four steps you describe for the development of requirements. I do not entirely agree with your implementation. In my opinion the decisions one takes based on several design options must be part of the requirements trace. Without exception. Requirements are not derived from other requirements, but from the design decisions. Therefor, linking requirements to one another results in losing the crucial design information that justifies not only the existence of the derived requirements, but also results in losing the justification that the derived requirements are indeed a a complete set of requirements to fulfill the requirement(s) that the design was created for.
If you do not include the design decisions in the trace it becomes impossible to determine whether you are fully satisfying the requirements at lower abstraction levels.
As you know, dealing with multi-objective projects is very common in systems engineering. Making decisions explicit and therefor making the traceability transparent is a fundamental part of this. Adding design decisions to the diagrams of trace views would be a tremendous step forward.
By ignoring the outcome of the design process (which you actually suggest doing when representing requirements only in a multi-level structure), you hamper multi-discipline product development. Talking from the systems engineering background I think we should ban diagrams, methods, tools, and guidelines that suggest that there exists a requirements structure without explicitly positioning the design decisions.
I hope our discussion will take requirements engineering (as part of systems engineering) a step further.
Regards, Cees.Hi Jeremy, thank you for this interesting article.
I recognize the issues you encounter when trying to "decompose" requirements. The solution you describe does however not do justice to the product engineering practice of today. I fully agree with the four s...falsefalseRE: The practical applications of traceability Part 1: What’s really going on when you decompose a requirement?0urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-7d3fe73f-d751-48b3-960a-ce09d3095d2fThe practical applications of traceability Part 1: What’s really going on when you decompose a requirement? - Commentsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comment-87ad30f1-6afa-4edc-ae83-c87e6ea27014Re: The practical applications of traceability Part 1: What’s really going on when you decompose a requirement?KeithCollyer270001D2S4activefalseKeithCollyer270001D2S4activefalseLikes2013-04-25T09:36:34-04:002013-04-25T09:36:34-04:00Excellent post. As usual, Jeremy explains very well first why some things that might seem obvious are not, and then how to deal with the implications of this and make them manageable.Excellent post. As usual, Jeremy explains very well first why some things that might seem obvious are not, and then how to deal with the implications of this and make them manageable.falsefalseRE: The practical applications of traceability Part 1: What’s really going on when you decompose a requirement?0urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-7d3fe73f-d751-48b3-960a-ce09d3095d2fThe practical applications of traceability Part 1: What’s really going on when you decompose a requirement? - Commentsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comment-4b8252ef-b499-4260-9b0b-8a8d47db1b28Re: Managing Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher. Part 4: What is Traceability?AndyGurd270001QKDHactivefalseAndyGurd270001QKDHactivefalseLikes2013-02-08T04:49:56-05:002013-02-08T04:49:56-05:00Thank you for your feedback Luiz, I'm glad you're enjoying the series - there are more parts to follow. I completely agree that practice is the best way to learn and that examples of where techniques have been applied are very powerful. We'll look at doing a follow-up series on practical application experiences.Thank you for your feedback Luiz, I'm glad you're enjoying the series - there are more parts to follow. I completely agree that practice is the best way to learn and that examples of where techniques have been applied are very powerful. We'll look at doing a f...falsefalseRE: Managing Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher. Part 4: What is Traceability?0urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-c7afc844-48aa-4ba9-8bda-9ae567b7609aManaging Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher. Part 4: What is Traceability? - Commentsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comment-5854a618-4d6b-4f44-bff1-a053f476df1aRe: Managing Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher. Part 4: What is Traceability?LuizCesar2700018RT2activefalseLuizCesar2700018RT2activefalseLikes2013-02-07T12:40:36-05:002013-02-07T12:40:36-05:00Andy,
Congratulations for your series. I read all posts and I liked very much, but I think the only way to capture the knowledge is practicing...only reading the concepts is not enough. So I suggest you to write about the pratical application of this concepts.
Thanks.
Luiz Cesar.Andy,
Congratulations for your series. I read all posts and I liked very much, but I think the only way to capture the knowledge is practicing...only reading the concepts is not enough. So I suggest you to write about the pratical application of this concepts...falsefalseRE: Managing Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher. Part 4: What is Traceability?0urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-c7afc844-48aa-4ba9-8bda-9ae567b7609aManaging Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher. Part 4: What is Traceability? - Commentsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comment-e67bf00a-3c20-4611-818f-c0aed671505bRe: Managing Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher Part 2: How to write good requirements and types of requirementsVijaySankar270000E5JQactivefalseVijaySankar270000E5JQactivefalseLikes2013-01-21T03:40:26-05:002013-01-21T03:40:26-05:00Thank You David!Thank You David!falsefalseRE: Managing Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher Part 2: How to write good requirements and types of requirements0urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-37ecff7c-4d85-4873-9282-de23ba86e1fbManaging Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher Part 2: How to write good requirements and types of requirements - Commentsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comment-4de7ca6e-e69a-4358-861f-0b6253f137f4Re: Managing Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher Part 2: How to write good requirements and types of requirementsdrumr56270002S8M8activefalsedrumr56270002S8M8activefalseLikes2013-01-19T22:58:54-05:002013-01-19T22:58:54-05:00
Visit IAG Consulting at http://www.iag.biz/ , a partner I believe, for a process that addresses information systems.
Visit IAG Consulting at http://www.iag.biz/ , a partner I believe, for a process that addresses information systems.falsefalseRE: Managing Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher Part 2: How to write good requirements and types of requirements0urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-37ecff7c-4d85-4873-9282-de23ba86e1fbManaging Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher Part 2: How to write good requirements and types of requirements - Commentsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comment-5a0e982c-df70-43eb-81d0-25a26c4df324Re: Managing Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher Part 2: How to write good requirements and types of requirementsVijaySankar270000E5JQactivefalseVijaySankar270000E5JQactivefalseLikes2013-01-15T07:19:07-05:002013-01-15T07:19:07-05:00I agree with you that the pyramid is more suitable for development starting from understanding market need. However I also believe that it is equally applicable to other cases also; The pyramid is more a generic representation and the 'need' should be considered more from that angle - in information systems it could be both the business process and information flow. I don't have a similar diagram for it.
IBM provide capabilities such as business process diagrams and storyboards in Rational Requirements Composer for capturing and documenting that information, from which requirements (needs) can be derived. For more details visit - http://www-01.ibm.com/software/awdtools/rrc/I agree with you that the pyramid is more suitable for development starting from understanding market need. However I also believe that it is equally applicable to other cases also; The pyramid is more a generic representation and the 'need' should be consider...falsefalseRE: Managing Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher Part 2: How to write good requirements and types of requirements0urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-37ecff7c-4d85-4873-9282-de23ba86e1fbManaging Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher Part 2: How to write good requirements and types of requirements - Commentsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comment-67d63983-6d9a-43ab-a112-d653a225ea24Re: Managing Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher Part 2: How to write good requirements and types of requirementsdrumr56270002S8M8activefalsedrumr56270002S8M8activefalseLikes2013-01-14T18:46:23-05:002013-01-14T18:46:23-05:00The pyramid is ok for product development, based on what the business wants to sell. For information systems that support business processes, however, I suggest it does not work. It is not about "needs", it is about process and the information used in that process.I have used Requisite Pro to do this; does IBM have a method for information systems?The pyramid is ok for product development, based on what the business wants to sell. For information systems that support business processes, however, I suggest it does not work. It is not about "needs", it is about process and the information used in that pro...falsefalseRE: Managing Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher Part 2: How to write good requirements and types of requirements0urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-37ecff7c-4d85-4873-9282-de23ba86e1fbManaging Your Requirements 101 – A Refresher Part 2: How to write good requirements and types of requirements - Commentsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comment-d1c7b1bf-ca6f-45fb-b582-b882d4f088a8Re: Is Requirements Management (in systems and product development) still relevant?CharlesRivet120000F3RCactivefalseCharlesRivet120000F3RCactivefalseLikes2012-12-07T10:33:52-05:002012-12-07T10:33:52-05:00To answer the question from the blog, yes, I do believe that requirements management is still relevant (and important)!
However, we do need to keep in mind that the form of the requirements has changed over the years and be ready to adapt! Over the years, "requirements" have evolved from simple "structured English" (from my assembler/C days) to various text and visual modeling approaches. Any tool and practices must keep pace with the advances on how we see and approach requirements, e.g., with the "agile" way of sprint-focused requirements.
Traceability (and all the good things that come out of it, e.g., completeness and impact analysis, etc.) is still important and needs to adapt to the various forms of requirements that we know today and that will come tomorrow!
Fun times ahead!To answer the question from the blog, yes, I do believe that requirements management is still relevant (and important)!
However, we do need to keep in mind that the form of the requirements has changed over the years and be ready to adapt! Over the years, "...falsefalseRE: Is Requirements Management (in systems and product development) still relevant?0urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-0e821c67-d8ad-4dd9-841b-7a36c95751e8Is Requirements Management (in systems and product development) still relevant? - Commentsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comment-143651bf-5297-42a4-bc91-1ba762556228Re: DOORS Discussions - Enabling collaboration and communication for effective requirements managementVijaySankar270000E5JQactivefalseVijaySankar270000E5JQactivefalseLikes2012-10-11T04:50:57-04:002012-10-11T04:50:57-04:00Thank You Alex!Thank You Alex!falsefalseRE: DOORS Discussions - Enabling collaboration and communication for effective requirements management0urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-83801096-fb90-4b11-88ee-650e0e2912b9DOORS Discussions - Enabling collaboration and communication for effective requirements management - Commentsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comment-7ebefa01-180e-4b5f-b5b5-1f3a8e53bdcaRe: DOORS Discussions - Enabling collaboration and communication for effective requirements managementDOORSWizard270001Y0K8activefalseDOORSWizard270001Y0K8activefalseLikes2012-10-10T22:20:28-04:002012-10-10T22:20:28-04:00Having just watched the recording I think it was a very good overview of the Discussions feature of DOORS/DWA.Having just watched the recording I think it was a very good overview of the Discussions feature of DOORS/DWA.falsefalseRE: DOORS Discussions - Enabling collaboration and communication for effective requirements management0urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-83801096-fb90-4b11-88ee-650e0e2912b9DOORS Discussions - Enabling collaboration and communication for effective requirements management - Commentsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comment-9d9880d4-d548-419a-9d11-0192d7384d37Re: DOORS and Testing - How to ensure your requirements are met?VijaySankar270000E5JQactivefalseVijaySankar270000E5JQactivefalseLikes2012-09-19T02:51:48-04:002012-09-19T02:51:48-04:00Thank You!..Hope the blog benefits you...let us know if you would like us to showcase any other particular topic...Thank You!..Hope the blog benefits you...let us know if you would like us to showcase any other particular topic...falsefalseRE: DOORS and Testing - How to ensure your requirements are met?0urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-1f9da450-d7f5-4fa0-b315-76ee01f324bfDOORS and Testing - How to ensure your requirements are met? - Commentsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comment-406d9927-d7bb-4aa9-8e39-cb80df1ce64fRe: DOORS and Testing - How to ensure your requirements are met?dwarika.mishra270005PE0Tactivefalsedwarika.mishra270005PE0TactivefalseLikes2012-09-19T02:38:42-04:002012-09-19T02:38:42-04:00Thank you for writing such a comprehensive post. Thank you for writing such a comprehensive post. falsefalseRE: DOORS and Testing - How to ensure your requirements are met?0urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-1f9da450-d7f5-4fa0-b315-76ee01f324bfDOORS and Testing - How to ensure your requirements are met? - Commentsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comment-4d2439f2-ff28-4674-9b60-6b8ca3e89d57Re: What’s new in IBM Rational DOORS 9.4?VijaySankar270000E5JQactivefalseVijaySankar270000E5JQactivefalseLikes2012-07-11T07:29:25-04:002012-07-11T07:29:25-04:00Thank You for visiting our blog and glad you found it useful. Yes, We are aware of comments around table handling and are pleased to confirm that this is something we are currently working on for a future release.Thank You for visiting our blog and glad you found it useful. Yes, We are aware of comments around table handling and are pleased to confirm that this is something we are currently working on for a future release.falsefalseRE: What’s new in IBM Rational DOORS 9.4?0urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-53c15e4e-9f69-441a-a459-71017a62c540What’s new in IBM Rational DOORS 9.4? - Commentsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comment-8e1d95fb-5d1a-47da-8ff1-3eab0ca26b62Re: What’s new in IBM Rational DOORS 9.4?GreenApple...270004S5WYactivefalseGreenApple...270004S5WYactivefalseLikes2012-07-10T15:17:27-04:002012-07-10T15:17:27-04:00All improvements are great, especially the RPE licensing change! Thank you!
One glaring improvement that needs to be addressed is how tables are handled. Excel OLE tables have limitations and DOORS tables are hard to work with. Perhaps v9.5 will address this?All improvements are great, especially the RPE licensing change! Thank you!
One glaring improvement that needs to be addressed is how tables are handled. Excel OLE tables have limitations and DOORS tables are hard to work with. Perhaps v9.5 will address th...falsefalseRE: What’s new in IBM Rational DOORS 9.4?0urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-53c15e4e-9f69-441a-a459-71017a62c540What’s new in IBM Rational DOORS 9.4? - Commentsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comment-b8a0adef-adf1-40cf-bde5-a711472140f8Re: Traceability - How Much Is Enough? Some thoughts from Innovate 2012Ben_Sharples2700026UERactivefalseBen_Sharples2700026UERactivefalseLikes2012-06-26T07:38:16-04:002012-06-26T07:38:16-04:00Noticed some of the comments on generating traceability reports from within DOORS and the difficulties faced using the analysis wizard especially where link directions change and diferent linksets used at different levels.
I have found that using DXL to generate traceability reports that output directly to excel can get round a lot of these problems as you have the ability to define which linksets, linkmodules or formal modules are used at each level of traceability.
Also an added benefit of using an OLE embedded output to excel is it is possible to define the cells and columns data is outputted to, hence also making it simpler to interpret the results where there are multiple links out from a singular object (everything gets ;lined up more neatly)
There are a number of posts with sample scripts on the DXL Developer Works forum on how to do thisNoticed some of the comments on generating traceability reports from within DOORS and the difficulties faced using the analysis wizard especially where link directions change and diferent linksets used at different levels.
I have found that using DXL to gen...falsefalseRE: Traceability - How Much Is Enough? Some thoughts from Innovate 20120urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-ce390185-c730-4e9f-b2ea-4fefaec3cf59Traceability - How Much Is Enough? Some thoughts from Innovate 2012 - Commentsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comment-bd2e1672-9d5c-4842-9dd4-49d33a888f38Re: Traceability - How Much Is Enough? Some thoughts from Innovate 2012gsiampos270001W8USactivefalsegsiampos270001W8USactivefalseLikes2012-06-19T12:02:51-04:002012-06-19T12:02:51-04:00Regarding the comment by F-Skier:
The link topology should be enforceable even for data at the same level of decomposition although I can imagine a situation where that would not be true. I'd like to hear more specifics about the types of data involved.
On the point about generating traceability columns, the Layout DXL generated by the Analysis Wizard can be modified to include links of different types and non-system attributes.
When a recursive analysis is performed using the Analysis Wizard, there may be several columns created showing the traceability. Don't forget that although it is one analysis each of the Layout DXL columns contain separate DXL scripts. The content for one column is not a function of the content in the others. These columns can be modified to include information at the various levels of decomposition. I described an approach for adding non-system attributes in a recent instalment of the DOORS Enlightenment Series. Similarly, a modification can be made to include different link modules.Regarding the comment by F-Skier:
The link topology should be enforceable even for data at the same level of decomposition although I can imagine a situation where that would not be true. I'd like to hear more specifics about the types of data involved.
...falsefalseRE: Traceability - How Much Is Enough? Some thoughts from Innovate 20120urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-ce390185-c730-4e9f-b2ea-4fefaec3cf59Traceability - How Much Is Enough? Some thoughts from Innovate 2012 - Commentsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comment-a8e33651-4b5d-4424-8950-4e8e90cb3169Re: Traceability - How Much Is Enough? Some thoughts from Innovate 2012AndyGurd270001QKDHactivefalseAndyGurd270001QKDHactivefalseLikes2012-06-19T07:40:42-04:002012-06-19T07:40:42-04:00Before I went on vacation, I posted this blog post link to several LinkedIn Groups which prompted some great responses and lively discussion (particularly from the INCOSE group). See links below to each of the discussion threads (note: some of the groups require you to request to join and need approval from the group moderator):
INCOSE:http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&discussionID=121720598&gid=1218517
Systems Engineering: http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&discussionID=121720588&gid=6722
SYSTEM ENGINEERS: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Traceability-How-Much-Is-Enough-36892.S.121720613?qid=759b8589-e56d-4fab-b728-eaa43793e32d
Requirements Engineering: http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=157594&type=member&item=121720587&qid=a6cfdd8d-1b58-4d16-b190-171511373701
IBM Rational DOORS: http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=769057&type=member&item=121720576&qid=14cd219b-7a20-489c-b748-7951c9b535e7Before I went on vacation, I posted this blog post link to several LinkedIn Groups which prompted some great responses and lively discussion (particularly from the INCOSE group). See links below to each of the discussion threads (note: some of the groups requi...falsefalseRE: Traceability - How Much Is Enough? Some thoughts from Innovate 20120urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-ce390185-c730-4e9f-b2ea-4fefaec3cf59Traceability - How Much Is Enough? Some thoughts from Innovate 2012 - Commentsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:comment-9f264518-ab6d-445a-a996-601ab58d9280Re: Traceability - How Much Is Enough? Some thoughts from Innovate 2012F-Skier2700020WTCactivefalseF-Skier2700020WTCactivefalseLikes2012-06-06T07:41:28-04:002012-06-06T07:41:28-04:00My organization is probably one of those that have lots of traceability, a lot of DO-178 type projects.
We have been using DOORS from over 10 years now. When we first started using DOORS we were instructed to segregate our traceability using different link sets. Typically we have two or more linksets, one for say requirements and another for test. This was done to allow us to easily have different "traceability columns" so we could separate out the requriements traceabilty from test traceabilty, for example.
As a rule we also trace from lower level (source) to higher level (target). This works well for hierarchic traceabilty, but often we need same level traceability.
A few problems that occur with this. It is difficult to enforce correct traceability rules. Especially having the need to change around linksets based on what you want to do. And making sure the current direction of linking is performed.
Generating traceabilty reports works fine as long as you want to go down one direction and along a common linkset. Wiith complex traceability, the need fo follow "wandering" paths is often required "go down 2 levels of requirements and then switch to test paths" for example. There is certainly no easy way to automate the generation of these types of traceability routes.
An easy way of generating a traceabilty route for matrix generation would be very helpful. Of course anything that could be done to improve the speed and efficiency of this report generation would be greatly appreciated.
Another issue is the use of surrogates. We use Matlab a lot. There is a method that employees surrogates objects is special modules. There are "add-in" tools that help manage this, however, these integrations are very fragile going from one version of tool to another. If we go to a new version of Matlab or DOORS, do these integrations still work?My organization is probably one of those that have lots of traceability, a lot of DO-178 type projects.
We have been using DOORS from over 10 years now. When we first started using DOORS we were instructed to segregate our traceability using different link...falsefalseRE: Traceability - How Much Is Enough? Some thoughts from Innovate 20120urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-ce390185-c730-4e9f-b2ea-4fefaec3cf59Traceability - How Much Is Enough? Some thoughts from Innovate 2012 - Comments